Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Communist Cuban dictatorship is draining hundreds of millions of
dollars from America's already financially strapped Medicare program and
using the money to finance its military and espionage services,
according to one counterintelligence expert specializing in Cuban
affairs.

In an exclusive interview with International News Analysis Today,
Christopher Simmons not only ties in the Cuban dictatorship with the
rampant Medicare fraud, but draws a stunning conclusion about the
erosion of American sovereignty in south Florida.

Simmons is a retired Counterintelligence Special Agent with 28 years
service in the Army, Army Reserve, and the Defense Intelligence Agency
with a specialty in Cuban intelligence affairs. Simmons was part of the
team that identified, arrested, and convicted former Defense
Intelligence Agency senior analyst, Ana Belen Montes, Cuba's
highest-ranking spy captured to date. Simmons has appeared on radio and
television, and has given testimony before committees of Congress.

Cuban Government As Criminal Enterprise

Medicare fraud usually involves money billed for treatment or services
never rendered. Most Medicare fraud in the U.S. occurs in southern
Florida, and the majority of the fraud perpetrators flee to Cuba. Law
enforcement officials publically state, however, that there is no proof of a connection between Medicare fraud and Cuba.

Ana Belen Montes, 1990.

Simmons pointedly disagrees and does see a clear connection.

"There is a huge difference between proof and evidence," observed Simmons.

"The Cuban government has been a criminal enterprise for 50 years, and
has never been reluctant to engage in crime to make money," Simmons
declared. Havana has a 50 year history of involvement in breaking
international law, from drug trafficking to selling U.S. secrets,
Simmons said. He reasons that expansion into a relatively simple scheme
as Medicare fraud would be easy for the Communist state.

The Communist Cuban government's wide experience in breaking U.S. and
international laws provides "proof of capability and intent" and a
"pattern of behavior," Simmons asserted.

In seven out of ten cases, he said, the perpetrators are Cuban-born
individuals who have come to the United States since the 1990s and who
flee back to Cuba when law enforcement uncover their fraudulent
activities. In Cuba, they enjoy every available comfort in return for
funneling millions of dollars to the Cuban government.

A report issued by the University of Miami
cites statements by a former high-level Cuban intelligence officer
indicating that the Cuban government is either directing or assisting
the perpetrators to obtain much needed hard currency.

Cuban Official Claims 'Ludicrous'

Cuba officially disclaims any knowledge of either the fraud in south
Florida or the presence on the island of the perpetrators of the fraud.

Describing as "ludicrous" Havana's claims of ignorance of the crimes or
the criminals. Simmons told INA Today that the newly returned Cuban
exiles would have at the very least attracted the attention of members
of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, a block-by-block
organization of Cuban citizen informers whose job it is to watch other
Cuban citizens and report everything they see. Simmons estimates that
one out of ten Cubans work for the CDR.

Simmons' ratio of informers to citizen is corroborated by what we know
about the conditions in the now-defunct Communist East German
dictatorship. As many as one in six East Germans were informers for the
Ministry for State Security, the feared Stasi secret police.

A returning Cuban exile living the good life in the tropical gulag that
is Cuba would certainly attract the attention of the CDR spies across
the island.

Fraud Pays for Espionage

Based on his knowledge of previous Cuban government criminal schemes,
Simmons stated that a large part of the Medicare fraud profits go
directly to support Cuba's vast foreign and domestic spy network and the
military.

The United States is Cuba's only important enemy.

The money taken during Cuba's Medicare fraud scheme has returned to
south Florida in the person of well-financed intelligence personnel.
Simmons stated that from 150 to 200 Cuban intelligence officers are
active in south Florida, vastly outnumbering U.S. spy catchers.

Carmen Kaeren González, suspected to be in Cuba

U.S. counterespionage efforts in south Florida are also impeded by the demands of the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Simmons explained that counterintelligence personnel, because of their
experience and training, are often deployed to the Iraq and Afghanistan,
because they capable of operating both as intelligence officers — those
who seek to obtain restricted or secret information — and in their
intended role of counterintelligence personnel — spy catchers.

Florida as 'Denied' Area — Like North Korea

As many as 70% of Cuba's spies operate in south Florida, and the limited
number of U.S. counterintelligence personnel available in the region
spells potential disaster for the United States.

America's resources available in the struggle against Cuban intelligence
are so thin that Simmons regards south Florida as a "denied area," an
intelligence designation indicating a place where U.S. intelligence
operations "are either difficult or impossible."

Examples of other "denied areas" are North Korea and Iran, said Simmons

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies have scored impressive
victories against Cuban intelligence services, among them the
destruction of the Wasp Network in 1998 and the arrest of Ana Belen
Montes in 2001.

There is much more to do to protect Americas against Cuban espionage
activities, but Cuba has become to many influential Americans a
politically correct subject. Within the U.S. policy elite there is often
a discernible pro-Cuban element.

The U.S. pro-Cuban lobby includes in its ranks U.S. politicians,
Hollywood stars, and think tank experts who regularly support Communist
Cuba's agenda.

Silence also aids the Cuban dictatorship. Little or nothing is ever said
in the U.S. media — liberal or conservative — about the struggles of
pro-freedom activists in Cuba who face regular beatings and
imprisonment.

Communist Cuba exists because of the relentless oppression carried out
by its ruthless secret police for the benefit of the military and the
Communist Party. Medicare fraud is just one more crime to add to the
many perpetrated against the U.S. and the people of Cuba.